Marco Silva insists winger Willian needs frequent football rather than a rest to ensure that he can hit top form for Fulham after an injury-ravaged start to the season.
The veteran Brazilian has started to recapture some of the sparkling form of last season at Craven Cottage by supplying an assist for the winner against Luton Town a fortnight ago, troubling Crystal Palace last weekend with some purposeful running and playing a key part in last night’s League Cup victory over Norwich City. Silva played down suggestions that the 35 year-old needs a rest – hinting that he will be likely to play on Monday night against one of his clubs in Chelsea.
“Willian needs minutes. He did not have a normal pre-season. He came late, the pre-season in America was not the best in terms of pitches. He had some problems with his achilles and lost almost all of the pre-season. For a player like him, I know that he needs to be playing every single week.
Probably at 35 years old, everyone expected him to rest but I think he needs to play games. We have enough time to prepare for the next game and get him in the right condition again. The goal hasn’t come for him yet, in some moments he probably should have scored, but with him on the pitch our quality is different.”
